Use of pre-processed foods has created a demand for effective high-capacity automated food processing equipment. That demand is particularly evident with respect to hamburgers, molded steaks, fish cakes, and other molded food patties.
Food processors utilize high-speed molding machines, such as FORMAX®, MAXUM700®, F-6™, F-12™, F-19™, F-26™, or F-400™ reciprocating mold plate forming machine, available from Formax, Inc. of Mokena, Ill., U.S.A., for supplying patties to the fast food industry. High-speed molding machines are also described for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,887,964; 4,372,008; 4,356,595; 4,821,376; 4,996,743, and published U.S. Patent Application 2005/0092187, U.S. Ser. No. 10/942,627 filed Sep. 16, 2004.
While this equipment has been highly successful in producing meat patties at high speed, equipment of the type described generally produces patties having a flat, circular or square shape with smooth upper and lower surfaces. Consumers may tend to associate these meat patties which have smooth upper and lower surfaces and smooth perimeters with fast food meat patties.
In a hand-formed meat patty, the perimeter of the patties and the upper and lower surfaces are not smooth. Consumers may recognize this patty as being of a hand made quality, such as would be served at home.
While it may be desirable to produce such a hand-formed patty, unlike hand-formed meat patties made at home, precise weight control of each patty is extremely important for mass produced patties.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,291 describes an apparatus for forming meat patties that have a precisely and accurately controlled weight but attempts to produce such patties to have a natural irregular shape. This patent describes a reciprocating mold plate patty-forming machine that includes a mold plate provided with cavities for molding pre-forms from which the finished patties are made.
After being knocked out of the mold cavity, the patty is flattened to reduce its thickness. Pressure rollers engage the top and bottom surfaces of the patty force the top and bottom surfaces toward one another as well as cause the edges of the patty to spread radially.
The pressing of the patty is described as done by passing the patty sequentially through two sets of rollers, with a 90 degree patty re-orienting step between the two sets of rollers to reduce the thickness in two successive stages.
According to this patent, after the flattening stages each patty has a different appearance. The finished patty is free from smooth molded surfaces produced by shaping or forming it with molding dies or the like.
The present inventors have recognized that a need exists for a patty-forming machine that produced patties at a high rate of production and also produced patties having a hand-formed patty appearance and cooking quality. The present inventors have recognized the need exists for such a patty-forming machine that was reliable and produced a patty with a appetizing appearance simulating a hand-formed patty.